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I've always lived in neighborhoods where it was easy to walk dogs. Until recently we always lived in a neighborhood with sidewalks. Here, there are no sidewalks, but there's not much traffic. I can walk in the street safely as long as I'm paying attention.
Recently I was visiting in a very hilly town, with winding roads, no sidewalks, and often little to no shoulder. It struck me that I saw no one walking, with or without dogs. And I know I wouldn't feel safe walking my dogs there. Then I started thinking of the busier roads in my town. Although they're not winding, they would also be difficult to walk a dog on. I know you can get in the car and go to a park, but having to do this on a daily basis would be a pain. If you live on a street where it's difficult to walk like this, what do you do? Have you ever decided not to buy a house because it wasn't dog walking-friendly? When we were looking at houses I didn't even think about this, although it might have dawned on me if I was seriously considering a house on a busier road.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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That's exactly what happened to me. We moved from a cul-de-sac neighborhood in CT with level ground (where I still managed to break my leg walking Artie one winter ) to this house in MA... on a hill. It was on a visit to see the house, before we'd even closed on it, that I realized that there was NO WAY that I'd be able to walk Artie on this. He's a puller. Snow and/or ice plus pulling plus hill = dead Dawn. The back yard was already fenced, but Artie never pooped in his own back yard in CT (not wanting to dirty it up, I guess, even though he knew I'd always pick it up right away)... so I knew that I'd have to train him to poop back there. Hot dog pieces worked like a charm.
Being a dog owner the property would have to met my needs and the needs of my dog before I would buy it.
That is why we bought a house on a quite RD with 10ac.
Remember your dog should be on your left side and you walk facing traffic.
When I buy a house, or a car, or darn near anything else, number one consideration is how it will work for my dogs.
I do not walk my dogs in public any more. Too many poorly socialized dogs are allowed to run loose and we had one too many dog attacks. I won't put my dogs at risk any more.
I love walking dozer but my towns just not walking frinely, the town itslef is small an quiet but no sidewalks, loose unfriendly dogs, and people using it like a racetrack means i have totire him out in other ways...our closest park is about 30 ins away and being on a tight budget its not eesable for everyay...and thats why having 4 1/2 acres is nice. once i get it cleared out and the perimeter fence up i plan to put a walking track in around the entire property
That's what I was thinking, Foxy. If I moved somewhere that walking the dogs out the front door and down the street wasn't feasible, I think I'd want some land where we could all stretch our legs a bit!
A fenced in back yard and a dog walking friendly nieghborhood were high on our priority list while we were looking.....we saw some really nice houses in safe sub-divisions....but fences werent approved by the HOA if you had a golf course view....(we passed those right by.....we dont golf and the view the golfers have of my house isnt a concern to me....of course I would have put up a decent looking fence) We found exactly what we were looking for.....and all our neighbors have dogs and love dogs.....and we have a nice back yard the dogs can access prn.
i "love" that houses on golf courses are supposedly so much better, but i cant help but wonder how the potential of having golfballs flying through your window is a PLUS lol.
i wasnt so worrie about the neighborhood being walkable, i was more interested in safe and restriction free with some land to make up for the lack of places to walk lol.
If I stay in the neighborhood I can stay on sidewalks but leave the neighborhood along the busy road there is no sidewalk for quite a distance and with Jazz and Dash I walked it several times and because drivers would look at us the cars would drift towards us ( cars tend to go where your eyes do) and it was too frighteningas we almost got hit several times. Good thing I walk facing traffic and stay way over in the bike lane. Crossing at the cross walks with traffic lights was also frightening as people making right turns often tend to forget to look right to make sure no one is crossing as they are so busy watching traffic on the left and when there is a break they just go. Sad part is there is one dog park we could walk to,it is a long walk but do-able but it means walking along the busy road without a sidewalk and crossing at the light. I think it has even gotten worse now that people are so distracted with cell phones, it is illegal to text or talk on a hand held phone as you drive but people still do it and I would say the number of accidents we get in the ER is a reflection on that so I no longer even try walking the dogs along that road ....we drive to the dog park
I live in a lakeside, golfing neighborhood; an older neighborhood that was originally developed as weekend getaways. We live here year-round. The roads are narrow, two-lane with no shoulder, windy as they travel back and forth around the lake coves. There are no sidewalks, nor streetlights. Speed limit is 25.
If I walk my dog, it's ONLY during daylight hours. We walk in the street. When I hear a vehicle coming, I move to the side, onto someones front yard and have my dog sit and wait. Not all that walk their dog(s) do this and they just stay in the middle of the road, causing drivers to cross the solid center line. Because the roads are so curvy and NOBODY drives slower than 35, I'm always scared to pass the dog walkers that don't move over for fear that someone is flying around the corner ahead of me to come at me head-on.
My next home will be pedestrian friendly!
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) to this house in MA... on a hill. It was on a visit to see the house, before we'd even closed on it, that I realized that there was NO WAY that I'd be able to walk Artie on this. He's a puller. Snow and/or ice plus pulling plus hill = dead Dawn. The back yard was already fenced, but Artie never pooped in his own back yard in CT (not wanting to dirty it up, I guess, even though he knew I'd always pick it up right away)... so I knew that I'd have to train him to poop back there. Hot dog pieces worked like a charm.
. Sad part is there is one dog park we could walk to,it is a long walk but do-able but it means walking along the busy road without a sidewalk and crossing at the light. I think it has even gotten worse now that people are so distracted with cell phones, it is illegal to text or talk on a hand held phone as you drive but people still do it and I would say the number of accidents we get in the ER is a reflection on that so I no longer even try walking the dogs along that road ....we drive to the dog park
